The Israeli Navy has been intensifying its patrols off the Lebanese coast in an effort to make it difficult for the terrorist organizations and the leftist forces in Lebanon to receive military supplies. The terrorists especially have relied on supplies coming in to the ports of Tyre and Sidon which are not too far from the Israeli border.
Israel has intercepted boats going to and coming from the ports and has publicly announced in three cases that the interceptions took place. This has hurt the terrorists, Israeli sources said.
CUBAN FORCES MAY GO TO LEBANON
Meanwhile, there was speculation here that Cuban forces who fought with Syria during the Yom Kippur War might now be used in Lebanon to aid the Moslem leftists and the Palestine Liberation Organization against the Syrians.
Experts in Soviet bloc affairs are assuming that if the Moslem leftist-PLO position is weakened further, the Soviet Union would have to embark on a policy of active support for them. But they predict, since it has not been Soviet policy to send Russian troops in such cases, the Cubans would be used because they already have had some experience in the area.
Shlomo Gazit, chief of intelligence, told the Cabinet yesterday that there is a Cuban military mission in Iraq. During the Yom Kippur War, Cuba sent an armored brigade to Syria to man the T-62 tanks for which the Syrians had no crews. The Cubans took part in the war of attrition on the Golan Heights after the Yom Kippur War and later left Syria. Havana proved in Angola that it can control large-scale military expeditions abroad, it was noted.
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